ABSTRACT
When Debussy visited the 1889 Exposition Universelle, he encountered Javanese gamelan music and heard concerts of Russian compositions. This occasion has become famous as an inspirational turning point in the history of French, if not Western, ‘modern’ music.2 But the 1889 exhibition had wider ramifications for music in France than is generally acknowledged. Musical performances and political aspirations at this World Fair contributed to the patriotic and colonialist projects of a nation about to break out of its international isolation to join new European political alliances while reviving its economy after two decades of decline.3
